Where Liberalism Is Alive and Well!

President Obama has been out selling his budget ideas this week. He is reaffirming his principles and goals for the country under his leadership. For those of us who are mature politicos, who are realistic with our expectations, who take ALL variables into consideration when judging the President, aren’t surprised at what he has been doing this week. He is out kicking some ass, educating people and reaffirming the liberal ideas that our country has embraced for generations. You know, taking care of our fellow citizens and not leaving them in the cold to fend for themselves, like so many on the right seem to want. At the Facebook town hall meeting yesterday, President Obama forcefully defended his plan and laid waste to Paul Ryan’s. How soon till the rats in the Republican Party flee the sinking HMS Paul Ryan ship? From the New York Times story on the event…

“The Republican budget that was put forward I would say is fairly radical,” Mr. Obama said. “And I wouldn’t call it particularly courageous.” He added: “I do think Mr. Ryan is sincere. I think he’s a patriot. I think he wants to solve a real problem, which is our long-term deficit. But I think that what he and the other Republicans in the House of Representatives also want to do is change our social compact in a pretty fundamental way.”

“Nothing is easier,” Mr. Obama said, “than solving a problem on the backs of people who are poor, or people who are powerless and don’t have lobbyists or don’t have clout.”

[…]

He joked to the billionaire Facebook founder that wealthy Americans — “people like me and, frankly, you, Mark” — should pay higher taxes to reduce deficits. But Republicans, he said, would further reduce taxes for rich taxpayers and corporations and cut deeply from clean energy, education and transportation programs “to make his numbers work.”

“I guess you could call that bold. I would call it short-sighted,” Mr. Obama said, provoking another burst of applause.

And of course when you contrast the President’s appearance yesterday with that of Paul Ryan at a town hall trying to defend tax cuts for the rich, well, I think the rats will be scurrying for the port holes on the sinking HMS Paul Ryan. But I am so happy that the Republicans actually brought it to a vote on the floor. Those votes by Republicans will haunt them until 2012 when they will be voted out and become lobbyists trying to screw us that way.

UPDATE: Bumped up from the comments. Matt Taibbi from Rolling Stone characterizes Paul Ryan and the other young guns like only Matt can do. I don’t always agree with Matt, especially when he is laying into the President, but I have to admit he is sometimes justified in it. From Matt Taibbi, hat tip of course to Grant…

Paul Ryan, the Republican Party’s latest entrant in the seemingly endless series of young, prickish, over-coiffed, anal-retentive deficit Robespierres they’ve sent to the political center stage in the last decade or so, has come out with his new budget plan. All of these smug little jerks look alike to me – from Ralph Reed to Eric Cantor to Jeb Hensarling to Rand Paul and now to Ryan, they all look like overgrown kids who got nipple-twisted in the halls in high school, worked as Applebee’s shift managers in college, and are now taking revenge on the world as grownups by defunding hospice care and student loans and Sesame Street. They all look like they sleep with their ties on, and keep their feet in dress socks when doing their bi-monthly duty with their wives.

Why can’t the current incompetent administration come out with a plan to lower the deficit. Somehow his reduce the deficit by half is a long way from the truth as is his closing Gitmo. His healthcare plan was to take 500 million from medicare, he seems to forget that and just add to the deficit with all of his give a ways. The only thing he can do is attack someone with a plan and of course tax the “rich”

You could take all of the income of the “rich” and it wouldn’t make a dent in the deficit. Maybe he should tax the freeloading 45% who don’t pay any income tax, there are a lot more of them than the “rich”.

I think that’s very very cool that President Obama was at a facebook townhall meeting in Palo Alto and presented with a purple hoodie from Mark Zuckerberg!

The President is sooo diplomatic and respectful when it comes to talking about Paul Ryan gutting medicare or whatever scam the repubs are trying to ram through but when he states why he disagrees it has an even stronger impact.

>snip<

Zuckerberg praised Obama for his work on education. "I think the Race to the Top stuff that you guys have done is one of the most under-appreciated and most important things that your administration has done," it said quoting Zuckerberg.

Obama returned the favour a few minutes later, praising Zuckerberg for his $100 million philanthropic gift to public schools in Newark, New Jersey.

Paul Ryan, the Republican Party’s latest entrant in the seemingly endless series of young, prickish, over-coiffed, anal-retentive deficit Robespierres they’ve sent to the political center stage in the last decade or so, has come out with his new budget plan. All of these smug little jerks look alike to me – from Ralph Reed to Eric Cantor to Jeb Hensarling to Rand Paul and now to Ryan, they all look like overgrown kids who got nipple-twisted in the halls in high school, worked as Applebee’s shift managers in college, and are now taking revenge on the world as grownups by defunding hospice care and student loans and Sesame Street. They all look like they sleep with their ties on, and keep their feet in dress socks when doing their bi-monthly duty with their wives.

Love it that Taibbi refers to Republican “lipless little mouths”. Long ago I noticed so many lipless sour/dour souls being so prevalent on the right like Gary Bauer, George Will, Mitch McConnell, Michelle Bachmann, etc. Almost seems like lack of lips is a phenotype of the heartless, passionless soul and why such white men seem to fear those with a “lust for life” like Angelina Jolie (even though hers may be enhanced), swarthy Latin lovers and of course those “wild” Africans! Be afraid….

I would probably have a different opinion if my parents left me a boatload of money, but I have to provide for myself. Is it really the government job to fund Seasame Street. The liar and thief, AKA BHO has said that isn’t true but he is appealing to no liability crowd so he can get away with it. Shows how leftist the MSM is because they don’t correct his mistakes like they do the right side.

Seems every politician is against spending UNLESS it is in his/her congressional district “back yard”. I know TROLL Atlanta Ralph has a low opinion of education BUT Sesame Street is a program that teaches…kind of like Head-Start (you know the programs that reach so many POOR kids of color which has to upset the many racists out there). Like non-profit public television shows in general, there are no advertisers on Sesame Street. However, the TV show more than pays for itself (and some other programming) with the licensing of toys, theme park contributions for using Sesame Street costumed characters, even now a Sesame Street on Ice traveling show.

As an example of “in my backyard is OKAY”, there is a nice article today in our paper about the ONE MILLIONTH tree, a bald cypress, planted along Houston freeways in honor of EARTH DAY. Seems this tree planting is in part possible due to REPUBLICAN Rep. Ted Poe having secured $22.8 MILLION in FEDERAL FUNDS to pay for the trees (I am in favor of the new urban forest, but it makes me wonder if Poe may have friends in the nursery business, and he did receive nearly $30K in donations from the Texas forestry/lumber giant, Kirby Corp). In a few years, as the trees mature, there will be a need to thin this urban forest to permit the biggest and healthiest trees to take over.

But if Poe is so “earth friendly” then why has he pushed to end the EPA’s oversight of greenhouse gases (and trees help reduce carbon gases). When it comes to the debate about spending, Poe recently voted in the House to defund Planned Parenthood (but is for a planned proliferation of young trees!).

Trees ultimately will save TXDOT money. Until a few years ago, our freeways were mostly grass that needed irrigation and constant mowing. Now TXDOT is planting trees and shrubs along the freeways so close together (as would happen in nature) that grass and weeds hardly have a chance of survival and will also save the state many dollars in right-of-way maintenance. Plus the trees will help clean our air and will eventually reduce traffic noise so ugly “noise walls” may not have to be built to protect residential areas along the roads. And this urban forest will be more attractive than expanses of the previous freeway “lawns” where every piece of trash thrown out is most visible.

Of course Poe has a relative in the nursery business, why else would a republican do anything that doesn’t make a buck. That is like a Democrat spending his own money, just not gonna happen.

Need to get some of the limousine liberals to fund the feel good shows. Sesame Street is a great show but it is a commercial operation and should be funded by private funds. Maybe you could postpone a trpip and donate, oops sorry that would be using your own money instead of someone else, sorry didn’t ,mean to offend

Once again our TROLL Atlanta Ralph is spewing REICH-wing propaganda LIES instead of doing his own research (Googling isn’t really that difficult). Ralph, you are very wrong about PBS.

Public television and radio only received 18.1% of their funding in 2009 from the Federal Government. Private funding (including some donations from unselfish me and I have “Doo-Wop” DVD’s and canvas tote bags to prove it) was the largest source of funding…57.1%. The remainder was supplied by local and state governments mostly relating to education and tourism…24.8%. PBS is BOTH educational and cultural, even Lawrence Welk exposed us to the Dakota’s German-American culture! Austin City Limits has contributed to Texas tourism and a has been a boon to appreciation of country and western music…you know, JOBS for musicians.

Atlanta Ralph, I am sure your GREEN skin doesn’t flatter you, so you might be less JEALOUS. I may have taken 10 cruises (plus several land tours abroad) in the past 4 years since retirement, Ralph, but thought you “freedom-loving teabaggers” were all for personal choices and this is MY CHOICE on how I wish to spend my money in my last years on this planet. On my trips, when I am not learning about other cultures, I spend a lot of that time watching BBC, France 24, Russia Today, Deutsche Welle. On REICHwing-owned Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Azamara often can only watch Faux News from the USA, not even CNN International and NEVER MSNBC. Plus cruise ships all have libraries and I continue my life-long habit of READING! I don’t spend much time up on the sun deck as I have to watch a pre-cancerous skin condition I have. I am also not into spa treatments, line-dancing, limbo contests, and rock-climbing walls.

Don’t let your jealousy overwhelm you Ralph (remember “coveting” is a Biblical SIN). I hope you will be able to travel the world in your “Golden Years”, too, but a warning…its EDUCATIONAL.

Think Progress has an article about Paul Ryan’s infatuation with Ayn Rand, even making his staff members read her “gospels”.

During her lifetime, Rand advocated “the virtue of selfishness,” declared altruism to be “evil,” opposed Medicare and all forms of government support for the middle-class and the poor, and condemned Christianity for advocating love and compassion for the less fortunate.

Yet, most on the REICH “claim” to love Jesus and to revere the Holy Bible, the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence. However their words and actions makes one wonder, to doubt any of their sincerity.

The limousine liberals are all for taking money from anyone as long as it is not them. It is the Streisand, Sheen crowd who preach against global warming as the take their limo to their private jet and go to their house in Aspen.

You can do with your money anything you choose but the “rich” should give more. A little hypercritical isn’t it.